Saturday, September 01, 2007

“Dr Marwan’s body had been stripped but was sent to the mortuary still wearing a pair of shoes. They could have been vital evidence, because Dr Marwan would have had to have stepped on to a ledge or a plant pot to jump, family members said. But he suffered from a severe nerve condition affecting his feet, and could not step into the bath without assistance, they said.

For Dr Marwan to have jumped off the balcony, he would have had to step into a plant pot, and climb over an air-conditioning unit, a source said. If he had done so, material such as soil from the plant pots or paint would have been left on his shoes.”

The London police didn’t secure the shoes. One could be forgiven for wondering if they are trying to end up with an inconclusive result. Meanwhile, there is a witness:

“The new witness is believed to have been inside the Institute of Directors’ building at 116 Pall Mall, which backs on to Dr Marwan’s apartment.

The man, who was on the third floor, has claimed that he saw Dr Marwan fall past the window. He rushed over and looked up to see two men calmly looking down at Dr Marwan’s body from a balcony, a source said.”

They are described as being of ‘Mediterranean appearance’. And there’s more:

“A source close to the investigation has also disclosed that Dr Marwan’s wife, Mona, has told police that her husband warned her three times that he might be murdered. His latest concerns came after an Israeli court ruled in early June that Major-General Eli Zeira, who headed Israeli Military Intelligence during the 1973 war, leaked Dr Marwan’s identity.

The Times disclosed two weeks ago that police have been told that the only known copy of Dr Marwan’s memoirs disappeared from his flat on the day of his death.”

Had the police kept the shoes, the absence of trace evidence of earth matching the earth in the pot would have proved murder. It appears to be in everybody’s interest to have an inconclusive finding of whether he jumped or was thrown.